In this field, use is made of flexible electrical cords (sometimes known as “flex”) with protective coatings, for which an electrical connection has to be made at specified lengths. For this purpose, it is usually necessary to remove the protective coating and then fit the connectors. In this process it is difficult to maintain a sufficient degree of protection against the ingress of solid bodies (including parts of the human body such as hands and fingers), dust, water, and accidental contact, in order to meet the requirements, for example, of the IP (International Protection) classes of protection as defined in the DIN EN 60529 standard.
In various applications, the connectors may be rather cumbersome, and, in the case of application to light sources such as LEDs, there may be a risk of damage to a lighting module as a result of the removal of a connector.